Icefresh bucks the trend with growth in a declining market

In the face of a declining market, frozen desserts and ice cream specialist Icefresh Foods has achieved modest growth in the past 12 months spearheaded by increased sales of its Weight Watchers Iced Desserts brand.

Icefresh has reported like for like turnover growth of 2.5% to £21.5 million this year (year ending June 2010) despite the retail frozen desserts market being in year on year decline in 2010. Icefresh took on the Weight Watchers Iced Desserts licence in 2008 and has recently been recognised for its strong performance at Weight Watchers annual licensee conference more than doubling its market share since taking over the licence.

Icefresh’s positive financial growth is reflected in recent independent data produced by Kantar Data which reveals that Weight Watchers Iced Desserts is the largest brand in the low-calorie iced dessert sector and also exhibits the strongest growth amongst its competitor set.

Icefresh has worked hard to increase the brand’s strength within the category through promotional activity and the development of new flavours for classic products and Phil Webster, Chief Operating Officer of Icefresh believes this has been the key to the brand’s ability to outperform the market. He says: “We have been pleased with the performance of our Weight Watchers licensed products. We aim to offer customers the equivalent of a full fat mainstream product with the same levels of indulgence and taste, but with significantly less fat and calories. Our new lines have been well received by consumers and retailers alike and we are currently developing the next generation of products, which we hope will enable us to build on this performance in the next twelve months.

“Historically healthy-eating brands are positioned at the premium end of the market and are prone to suffer in a tough economic climate, so whilst our growth has been relatively modest, it is a significant achievement in the light of the prevailing market conditions. Weight Watchers has a great USP and very loyal following which responds well to innovation and quality and these will continue to be our watchwords.”

The latest offering from Icefresh is Weight Watchers Mini Chocolate Sticks. Covered with silky milk chocolate or rich white chocolate, and aimed at women who want a quick, convenient, guilt-free treat. Each box contains four milk chocolate sticks and four white chocolate sticks at only 90 calories per milk choc stick and 95 calories for the white choc stick (RRP £2.99).